no-one. He was captured and sent to the slave-labour camp at Neuengamme and perished in 1944. It was some considerable time before his sons, who had also fought in the French Resistance, were able to locate the pictures. The Titian, along with many other paintings, was discovered in a garage in Bayswater in 1946.

Gimpel’s son, Jean, who was a champion of science as applied to the arts, had the Tobias and the Angel X-rayed by Stephen Rees-Jones at the Courtauld Institute Technology Department in 1948 when the underlying composition became apparent for the first time. It was Jean’s enthusiasm which later led to the complex restoration that uncovered the original composition.

The restoration process took nearly twenty years and it was only in 2001 that the original portraits were revealed. The picture was then the major rediscovery of the Titian exhibition of 2003 in Madrid. Portrait of a Lady and her Daughter has caused much excitement among scholars, offering the chance to further examine the later style of Titian’s painting. Its unfinished state provides a fascinating glimpse of the artist’s working methods and technique. Like many portrait painters, he began by concentrating on the heads, bringing the features of mother and child to a high degree of finish. It is likely that Titian usually began his portraits this way, quickly capturing his sitter’s likeness before they tired of the session.

Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian (circa 1485-1576) was born at Pieve di Cadore, Italy, and moved to Venice when he was ten. He succeeded Giovanni Bellini as painter to the Republic of Venice in 1516 and soon became famous across Europe, in particular for his skill as a portraitist. In the 1530s and 1540s he traveled to Bologna and painted The Emperor Charles V and Pope Paul III. He joined the Court of Charles V at Augsburg, Germany in both 1548 and in 1550, and obtained a large number of portrait commissions before returning to Venice. Having obtained the patronage of King Philip II of Spain, the son of Charles V, he remained in Venice, further developing a style of painting that pioneered a loose, impressionistic character. Titian’s influence cannot be understated, providing direct inspiration for a range of artists including Velàzquez, Rubens, Rembrandt and van Dyck, as well as modern and impressionist artists including Monet and Renoir. During his own time, Titian was already acknowledged as a master of the arts. Lomazzo described him as ‘The sun amidst small stars not only among the Italians but all the painters of the world.’